Delhi HC Panel To Look Into Government Hospitals’ Infrastructure

April 24, 2019

Delhi high court on Monday decided to set up an expert panel to inspect various government hospitals in the city in order to improve infrastructure, manpower and over all functioning. A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Anup J Bhambhani ordered the inspection after going through reports revealing the dilapidated
health facilities.
It noted that “a committee of experts should be constituted to visit various government hospitals in Delhi, with a view to conduct inspection of the infrastructure facilities available, the requirement of manpower, procurement systems in place and other aspects concerned with the functioning of the hospitals and give comprehensive suggestions to this court.”

HC’s order came after the counsel for AAP government conceded that directions may be needed to boost infrastructure and manpower of these hospitals. The government had earlier filed a status report that disclosed an acute crisis of manpower in state-run hospitals.

It showed that in GB Pant Hospital, the largest of the government’s super-specialty institutions, 159 posts for doctors are vacant, while the paramedical/nursing and non-medical strengths are short by 199 and 233, respectively. A similar problem plagued LNJP, Deen Dayal Upadhyay, Ambedkar and Guru Tegh Bahadur hospitals, among the biggest tertiary-care centres in Delhi.

TOI had recently highlighted that the status report of LNJP showed 41 vacancies among doctors, 15 among paramedical staff and 229 among the nonmedical staff. The report, which was examined by the bench, came in response to queries on specific steps taken by the government to improve health facilities.

HC hearing a PIL filed by Madhu Bala, a schoolteacher in Karawal Nagar who lost her baby after admission to GTB Hospital for delivery. Through her lawyer Prashant Manchanda, the woman has alleged that the hospital’s inadequate infrastructure and lack of medical facilities caused the loss of the baby and exposed her to near death.
The petition urged the high court to step in “to immediately resurrect the dangerously dilapidated health system in public hospitals and utilise huge funds to infuse instant course correction and overhauling to prevent further health hazards.” On Monday, the HC asked Manchanda and both state and central governments to suggest names for the panel. It said experts such as doctors, technocrats, social workers, bureacrats and accountants may be nominated so that the panel starts work. – The Times Of India